I always found this product to have pleasant condy corn sweetness. I do mean candy corn as in the marshmellow type candy popular in the fall. I think the strong vanilla influence of the product is what gives me that taste. It is a very good whiskey and very inexpensive.

I like it but I added a tablespoon of bourbon (can't recall which) to a pint of Mellow Corn and it made it much better. Since some of the reused casks would impart a little more bourbon taste than others, this seemed reasonable to do and it cut slightly the harshness. This is good whiskey but for shots, not sipping. Also, it mixes well with certain soft drinks, I think it would go well with sarsparilla or that type of drink. I think I will buy some diet root beer and try that.

Gary,
An interesting idea to add a little bourbon. Have you tried the same with single malts? I know the aged "blending whisky" I drank in Scotland at Nick Morgan's home, tasted much like Mellow Corn. You might duplicate your favorite blended scotch with Mellow Corn and the proper single malts.

Mike, the Mellow Corn with a touch of bourbon is very good, it makes the taste "darker" and smoother but it is still corn whiskey.

I can see that aged Scotch grain whisky might taste like some corn whiskey but I think you are being too kind to the scotch. Because, that grain whisky is distilled out at about 94% ABV - the corn whiskey at under 160. So the latter has to be more intense. But there is a connection since the scotch grain is made (or can be made) mostly from corn or maize as they call it in England. The one you tasted certainly would have been made from corn because it was much used when that distillate would have been produced (I am allowing for its age and when you tasted it some years ago). Today, most grain whisky relies I am told on wheat, so you might not see the connection much to 'ole corn. The Scotch grain I have tasted (an excellent one is put out by Compass Box) is very similar to Canadian whisky. No surprise since the 90% of so of Canadian whisky that isn't low-proof whisky is made almost exactly like Scotch grain - from mixed grains (often wheat or corn), distilled out very high and aged in reused wood.

I am thinking about using the Mellow Corn for blending however, not to make a Scotch blend, but to assist in making an American whiskey (7 Crown-type). I understand that some American whiskey uses corn whiskey in building the blend. I wonder how they do that exactly? I propose a luxury blend, say, 50% bourbons (one old one young), 15% straight rye (not old), 10% corn whiskey, 25% GNS. (Or lower the bourbon content and increase the rye but leave the other elements unchanged).

This would be quite good I think but I don't know such a plan relates to what the distillers' recipes for American whiskey say. I know of course they limit themselves to (at most) 30% straight whiskey, which is not enough, but historically blends were made with more straight than that, all the way up to 90% in fact. They must have recipe books in those labs handed down. Their content has never been disclosed as far as I know. Oh also I would not be averse to adding a small quantity of sugar or sweet wine, to marry the blend. Just a little now.

Gary,
You are right in that the aged blending spirit Nick gave was maize distillate. It does make me wonder if I took some Mellow Corn and some single malts if it would be blended scotch in taste. I will have to see what I have around and give it a try.

Well, it might remind I think of some blends, or vattings (of malts). Because you are combining cereal-derived low-proof products. The overall effect could be similar to some blends and vattings even if the corn whiskey didn't taste like typical Scotch grain. But I don't exclude that high proof Scotch grain whisky can't taste somewhat like corn whiskey. Scotch grain, under the definition of whisky contained in U.K. law, can't be completely neutral. Scotch whisky, even the high proof form, must have some taste derived from the materials used to make it. (That is what U.K. law states). Jackson writes that the process for Scotch grain is not quite as prolonged or intense as for GNS. So you might have noticed a connection for that reason but again regardless, the blending you propose would fit in the general schema of Scotch whisky.

The key is the barrels in which the corn whiskey was aged were reused and not new charred barrels.

Gary,
Here is what I have done. I have taken about 50% Mellow Corn, about 40% Cardhu 12yo single malt and about 10% of the heavy peated Ardbeg 17y single malt. For a control, I looked to see what kind of blended scotch whiskies I have. I was looking for some Johnny Walker Red since that is the blend that uses Cardhu as its main malt, but no luck - Vat 69, Scoresby and Inverhouse are all I have left from the give aways from my days at UD and the Inverhouse is the only one open. I poured some Inverhouse.

In color they are very close, but color really is not a factor with scotch whisky since it can be artificially colored, and I suspect the Inverhouse is just that - heavily colored. They are both a straw yellow.

The nose is quite similar with some peat and iodine with a little straw or hay smell. The InverHouse has a bit more sweetness and a little of the new whiskey smell you tend to get from any blended whiskey.

The taste are actually fairly similar with some peat and vanilla with a bit of wood tannins. The mellow corn makes for a very good blended scotch. The extra proof of the bonded Mellow corn adds just a little more grain flavor to the blend and the homemade blend does not have a sweetness to it that suggest either a lot of caramel coloring or some sugar added to the blend in the Inverhouse.

The finsih is very similar in both - short and sweet with only a little lingering smokiness from peat in the homemade blend.

Gary, I think you should try this experiment. It might bring out some of the flavors you are missing in blended scotches of today.

Gary,
From what I remember, Johnny Walker has Cardhu, Talisker and Lagavulin as single malt components. If you have these malts, maybe you can use Mellow Corn to create Johnny Walker Maple Leaf - The Canadian Master Blend of the scotch!

I plan to use a vatting I made of Glenfiddich 12 year old, 16 year old Lagavulin and Bruichladdich 15 years old.

I will do two versions. One 50% the vatting and 50% Mellow Corn, and the other 50% the vatting, 25% Mellow Corn and 25% Century Reserve Canadian whisky 21 years old. The Century Reserve is essentially like an old Scotch grain whisky. Stay tuned!

Gary

Last edited by gillmang on Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:44 am, edited 2 times in total.